Vexille Movie Review

Our reporter Yeo Kheng Meng caught the latest anime movie that just reached Singapore's shores recently. Here is his take on it.

Overview

It is the year 2067, and Japan, under the political influence of Daiwa, a Japanese industrial conglomerate, withdraws from the UN when the latter enacted a law banning all android research and production. It then pursued an isolationist policy of expelling all foreigners and cutting off all contact with the outside world.

To prevent external surveillance and outbound transmissions, it installed EM-wave signal jammers all around the coast. The only connection remaining with the outside world is the constant exports of cutting-edge robots and high-tech weapons from Daiwa.

For a decade, no foreign visitors have been and seen Japan's interiors. In 2077, a representative of Daiwa secretly goes to the US to meet international political leaders. US government forces discover that he is actually an android, contravening the international law.

SWORD, a US Special Forces department decides to infiltrate Japan in an operation headed by Vexille, a highly trained female commander. What they discover is beyond their wildest expectations and threatens the entire human race...

http://www.moviexclusive.com/review/vexille/vexille.htm

CGI

Much comparison has been made between Vexille and Appleseed. After all, the director-cum-storywriter Fumihiko Sori is the producer of Appleseed (See NYX review here). The CGI in Appleseed is very sophisticated compared to other movies of its time in 2004. Having watched Vexille, I can promise you that it is definitely a class higher.

A city in the US (SWORD's country of origin)
http://www.animenewsservice.com/archives/vexille.htm

The US city is shown in much greater detail with richer colours. Even the trains and vehicles can be distinctly picked out from the high altitude camera angle. Goodness knows how many computer clock-cycles were used to render just a single frame!

The facial expressions however, disappoint greatly. Despite the many positive comments in Appleseed, I did not see much improvement in Vexille. The facial designers were probably resting on their laurels. The colour tone was relatively flat. Without the subtitles or audio, I doubt many would be able to discern the character's emotions. Compared to Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, the faces here are an eyesore.

All is not lost; the “jags” shown in the movie are one of its kinds and showcased the next level of integration between the best human artistic capabilities and computer technology.

http://media.dvd.ign.com/articles/842/842654/vids_1.html

For those who have seen the Animatrix: Final Flight of the Osiris, recall the scene when the robots formed an ever-lengthening cylinder before they chased the Osiris ship. Imagine two skyscraper-tall sandworm-like creatures made of individual metal parts colliding with each other. The mobility of this metallic creature above is exactly the same. The sheer scale of rendering this artistic complexity is simply breathtaking!

Sound

The filmmakers chose to bring back the composers Paul Oakenfold and Boom Boom Satellites from Appleseed given the many accolades for it. But for Vexille's case, it has been overdone.

Although some of the tracks complemented the mood perfectly, I felt that it was soaked with too much heavy metal/pop music that did not suit the atmosphere. To make things worse, some of the metal tracks drowned out the dialogue during the more action-packed sequences.

Conclusion

This anime film does showcase the next level of filmmaking and is a huge graphical improvement over Appleseed. But yet it fails to take good advantage of them. It suffers a double whammy from the cliché stereotype of a cyberpunk anime and a dry storyline to boot. Nothing compelling that will make this film a must watch even for cyberpunk anime fans. It does make a perfect starter for anime fans interested in this genre though.

For those who like mindless sci-fi action and fights with futuristic weapons and vehicles, this film is for you. Otherwise, turn to something else. Overall, Appleseed and even the 2 Ghost in the Shell GIG series beats this film hands-down.

The movie is currently showing only in The Picture House in Cathay. It debuted in Singapore on 27 December 2007 so catch it soon if you want.

By Yeo Kheng Meng